Flashy new Logos, etc.

Hope everyone who was there for the ride while I was in Iceland enjoyed that sequence of posts!

You might notice that the site has a new logo in the top left hand corner! Indeed, the purple doughnut-looking render I made one day  - instead of working on problem sheets - has been replaced by the work of a true professional.

These were created by one Alexander Brouillard, architecture graduate, sino-belgian video game and film architect; not to mention, my best friend. I was speechless when I opened his email in Trockel's on Pembroke street, and saw these staring back at me from the attachments. The design looks as futuristic as it does essential, I could imagine these graphics in a multitude of situations ranging from the cover of a differential geometry textbook to the user interface of a starship from the future. It reminds me of the scenes in Star Wars showing off the Death Star's planet-killing cannon.

He is working on a portfolio website, which I will link to from here as soon as that is up and running. Send him my best! I cannot begin to thank you for this, Alex.

Secondly, I have a small update as regards how I will be using this blog in the future. 

Many of you know that I am planning on returning to university after a year in "industry", where I really heavily emphasise the quotation marks. The time I spent away from Cambridge was a mixed bag, a period of coming to terms with some mistakes and certain misfortunes. Nevertheless essential for traveling this May, I did undeniably struggle as a result of having to probe different paths through the next couple years, notably by way of attempted entry into an "industry" I now find most antagonistic. As often as this sentence passes through my head, that notion of 'knowing what you don't want to do is just as useful an experience as is knowing what you do', I still can't seem to get this to really click. 5 months is a hell of a long time to do something you irredeemably hate, regardless of what purpose it serves in personal development. The associated stress, as well as latent stress from 3rd year, led me to create some honestly very incoherent entries. When I consider the original purpose of this blog, I have to admit that I have failed to uphold it. It was supposed to document my experiences studying the science, the discussions I heard, the people I met, the various stories which you'd invariably collect as a result of attaining any sort of higher education. This simply did not happen. I never spoke of any Archimedeans talks I saw, of which there were a couple, nor the Maxwell lectures, nor what it was like to meet a Nobel Prize winner, or to sit some of the most difficult papers in the world. I was distracted from my goal, which after considerable testing has stayed the same.

Therefore, I will no longer be using this blog as a stress-ball. Actually writing many of my experiences firsthand without putting some pseudo-philosophical spin on it is my new intent. When I meet an interesting academic, or discover a useful resource, or anything at all, really, over the course of my further education, at my own discretion it may be written about - done, whilst still subjectively, without these insane speculative embellishments and needlessly absolute, monistic conjectures based on my interactions with quite literally nothing other than my own overstretched brain, which has little idea about the nature of reality. The nature of the story I wish to tell has changed. I want to use this to help me remember what actually happened in the world during this time, rather than what thought-loops I became trapped in. In short, keeping it real.

Hopefully this blog will remain equally interesting after this change. I offer no guarantee. I am a poor judge of what is interesting.